IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cdl/itsrrp/qt8nh0s83q.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Urban Air Mobility: History, Ecosystem, Market Potential, and Challenges

Author

Listed:
  • Cohen, Adam P
  • Shaheen, Susan A PhD
  • Farrar, Emily M

Abstract

Since the early 20th century, inventors have conceptualized “plane cars” and other urban aerial transportation. Emerging innovations in electrification, automation, and other technologies are enabling new opportunities for on-demand air mobility, business models, and aircraft design. Urban air mobility (UAM) envisions a safe, sustainable, affordable, and accessible air transportation system for passenger mobility, goods delivery, and emergency services within or traversing metropolitan areas. This research employed a multi-method approach comprised of 106 interviews with thought leaders and two stakeholder workshops to construct the history, ecosystem, state of the industry, and potential evolution of UAM. The history, current developments, and anticipated milestones of UAM can be classified into six phases: 1) “flying car” concepts from the early 1910s to 1950s, 2) early UAM operations using scheduled helicopter services from the 1950s to 1980s, 3) re-emergence of on-demand services starting in the 2010s, 4) corridor services using vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) envisioned for the 2020s, 5) hub and spoke services, and 6) point-to-point services. In the future, UAM could face several barriers to growth and mainstreaming, such as the existing regulatory environment; community acceptance; and concerns about safety, noise, social equity, and environmental impacts. UAM also could be limited by infrastructure and airspace management needs, as well as business model constraints. The paper concludes with recommendations for future research on sustainability, social and economic impacts, airspace integration, and other topics.

Suggested Citation

  • Cohen, Adam P & Shaheen, Susan A PhD & Farrar, Emily M, 2021. "Urban Air Mobility: History, Ecosystem, Market Potential, and Challenges," Institute of Transportation Studies, Research Reports, Working Papers, Proceedings qt8nh0s83q, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Berkeley.
    • Handle: RePEc:cdl:itsrrp:qt8nh0s83q
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/8nh0s83q.pdf;origin=repeccitec
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Reiche, Colleen PhD & Goyal, Rohit & Cohen, Adam & Serrao, Jacqueline & Kimmel, Shawn PhD & Fernando, Chris & Shaheen, Susan PhD, 2018. "Urban Air Mobility Market Study," Institute of Transportation Studies, Research Reports, Working Papers, Proceedings qt0fz0x1s2, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Berkeley.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Cohen, Adam & Shaheen, Susan, 2021. "Urban Air Mobility: Opportunities and Obstacles," Institute of Transportation Studies, Research Reports, Working Papers, Proceedings qt0r23p1gm, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Berkeley.
    2. Hwang, Ji-Hyon & Hong, Sungjo, 2023. "A study on the factors influencing the adoption of urban air mobility and the future demand: Using the stated preference survey for three UAM operational scenarios in South Korea," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    3. Lee, Changju & Bae, Bumjoon & Lee, Yu Lim & Pak, Tae-Young, 2023. "Societal acceptance of urban air mobility based on the technology adoption framework," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 196(C).
    4. Zeyu Cheng & Zhi Cao & John T. Hwang & Chris Mi, 2023. "A Novel Single-Turn Permanent Magnet Synchronous Machine for Electric Aircraft," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-14, January.
    5. Ilahi, Anugrah & Belgiawan, Prawira F. & Balac, Milos & Axhausen, Kay W., 2021. "Understanding travel and mode choice with emerging modes; a pooled SP and RP model in Greater Jakarta, Indonesia," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 398-422.
    6. Reiche, Colleen PhD & Cohen, Adam P & Fernando, Chris, 2021. "An Initial Assessment of the Potential Weather Barriers of Urban Air Mobility," Institute of Transportation Studies, Research Reports, Working Papers, Proceedings qt8kz5r10b, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Berkeley.
    7. Maria Grazia Bellizzi & Luigi dell’Olio & Laura Eboli & Carmen Forciniti & Gabriella Mazzulla, 2020. "Passengers’ Expectations on Airlines’ Services: Design of a Stated Preference Survey and Preliminary Outcomes," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-14, June.
    8. Kitthamkesorn, Songyot & Chen, Anthony, 2024. "Maximum capture problem for urban air mobility network design," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    9. Rohit Goyal & Colleen Reiche & Chris Fernando & Adam Cohen, 2021. "Advanced Air Mobility: Demand Analysis and Market Potential of the Airport Shuttle and Air Taxi Markets," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-15, July.
    10. Annitsa Koumoutsidi & Ioanna Pagoni & Amalia Polydoropoulou, 2022. "A New Mobility Era: Stakeholders’ Insights regarding Urban Air Mobility," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-18, March.
    11. Cohen, Adam MS & Shaheen, Susan PhD, 2024. "Advanced Air Mobility: Opportunities, Challenges, and Research needsfor the State of California (2023-2030)," Institute of Transportation Studies, Research Reports, Working Papers, Proceedings qt0656t0dh, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Berkeley.
    12. Adam, Cohen & Susan, Shaheen, 2021. "Urban Air Mobility: Opportunities and Obstacles," Institute of Transportation Studies, Research Reports, Working Papers, Proceedings qt3mg6z1wf, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Berkeley.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cdl:itsrrp:qt8nh0s83q. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Lisa Schiff (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/itucbus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.